Product Description

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This is a text-only paperback edition of The Oxford History of the Biblical World which is a comprehensive survey of the world from which the Bible emerged. Chronologically ordered, it is an authoritative synthesis written by leading scholars and incorporating the latest archeological discoveries and current methodologies. Chapters present a readable and integrated study of the history, art, architecture, languages, literature,and religion of biblical Israel and early Judaism and Christianity in their larger cultural context. For the paperback edition the maps and tables will remain intact. However, Coogan selects an eight-page black and white insert from the original art program. The art insert compiles the most visually compelling and historical important items that are illustrative of the text.

Publisher's Description

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In this impressive volume, leading scholars offer compelling glimpses into the biblical world, the world in which prophets, poets, sages, and historians created one of our most important texts--the Bible. For more than a century, archaeologists have been unearthing the tombs, temples, texts, and artifacts of the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean world. Using new approaches, contemporary scholars have begun to synthesize this material with the biblical traditions. The Oxford History of theBiblical World incorporates the best of this scholarship, and in chronologically ordered chapters presents the reader with a readable and integrated study of the history, art, architecture, languages, literatures, and religion of biblical Israel and early Judaism and Christianity in their larger cultural contexts. The authors also examine such issues as the roles of women, the tensions between urban and rural settings, royal and kinship social structures, and official and popular religions of the region. Understanding the biblical world is a vital part of understanding the Bible. Broad, authoritative, and engaging, The Oxford History of the Biblical World will illuminate for any reader the ancient world from which the Bible emerged.

Author Bio

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Michael D. Coogan, editor of the New Oxford Annotated Bible, 3rd ed. and co-editor of the Oxford Companion to the Bible, is currently director of publications for the Harvard Semitic Museum and Professor of Religious Studies at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts.

Editorial Reviews

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"The Oxford History of the Biblical World rewards careful study and casual browsing. For those willing to open their minds to the evidence and nuanced argument about the origins of faiths that have shaped our world, it is a worthy investment of time in the study of the timeless."--David Lauter, L.A.Times (on the hardcover edition)